Polk Resident Gets Prison In Slaying

September 21, 1988

KISSIMMEE — A Polk County man was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in prison after pleading no contest to second-degree murder in the death of an Orlando woman four months ago. Jeffrey Thomas, 26, who first told Osceola sheriff's investigators his last name was Hampton, entered the plea before Circuit Judge Joe Baker in the death of Reiko Hawes, 27. Hawes' partly clothed body was found May 12 in a field in western Osceola County. Hawes and Thomas were seen leaving a bar near Walt Disney World between midnight and 3:30 a.m. May 12, investigators said. Later that day, a passer-by found Hawes' body in a field on Fantasy Heights Boulevard, near County Road 545. Investigators said the woman died from a blow to her throat. Hawes' car was found two days later near Thomas' home on Bird Road in Polk County.